Critique my recipe?
 

Hi there! Long time reader, first time poster. Right off the top I want to thank all of the folks who post here at this site. You have all, in one way or another, helped our myriad furry kiddies many, many times. The wealth of info at this site is a tremendous resource. Thank you all very much indeed.

I have read several recommendations on a home prepared mix, but wondered if it makes sense to substitute Taste of the Wild "High Prairie" instead of using a fresh meat as the main protein? I was thinking of mixing 1/2 to 3/4 cup TOTW, ~1/4 cup cooked basmati rice, ~1/4 cup cooked rolled oats and ~1/4 cup "veggie of the day". (Whatever veggies we have left from [I]our[/I] dinner -- with the exception of those not recommended for dogs) I figured the TOTW would make an excellent protein as it also contains vitamins, minerals etc. Anyone see anything wrong with that? I plan to add fresh cooked meat periodically and will reduce the kibble accordingly.

Cheers!

I'm not a raw feeder, but I honestly see nothing wrong with that, my own dog gets cooked meat/veggies from our table mixed in with her kibble daily.

Hey TrueNorthist, welcome to the board.

I'm not sure how big your dogs are, so I can't comment on whether or not this will be enough food for your size dog, but my only concern with this plan would be that the TOTW is supposed to be an already balanced diet including both protein and carbohydrates. If you add rice, oatmeal, and vegetables to the TOTW, you may actually end up giving your dogs a higher percentage of carbs than they need in their diet. Maybe adding an egg or some fresh meat would help, but I don't know enough about the exact dietary requirements to really suggest a recipe. It's just something you might want to consider.

I'm sure someone with more knowledge on this subject will be along soon. We feed TOTW Pacific Stream and our dogs do very well on it. However, we do like giving them a little extra every now and then, such as a boiled egg, some plain meat, etc. My little girl pup goes wild over fruits and veggies too :)

[QUOTE=TrueNorthist;1031110]I figured the TOTW would make an excellent protein as it also contains vitamins, minerals etc. [/QUOTE]

What about using something like [URL="http://www.missinglinkproducts.com/productsproductoverview19-1/MissingLinkCanine"]Missing Link[/URL] with fresh meat instead of the kibble and grains? That way you won't throw off the nutrient balance, and your doggie will benefit from the higher quality protein source.

Sorry for the slow reply. Madness around here at this time of year... In answer to some questions asked:

The two mutts in question are a 65 pound, 8 year old female Border Collie/Yellow Lab cross (Sam) and an 80 pound, 3 year old male Shepard/Newfie cross (Jed). I [I]was[/I] feeding them Acana "Grasslands" for the past five years (Origens previously) but both would have recurring bouts of vomiting/diarrhoea from time to time which was getting progressively worse. Trips to the Vet revealed nothing except unusually high uric PH in both with high protein foods being cited as the cause. A switch in food was strongly recommended. The Vet recommended a switch to Medi-Cal "preventative" and that had disastrous results, so I decided to try TOTW and so far it has been very agreeable to both dogs. Although the uric PH improved a little bit, it was still considered too high. I figured that by adding the oats, rice and veggies I could reduce the protein a bit as well as give them some variety. For the past 4 months it has been working very well with the PH now nearly down to normal and no other issues showing up. I just wanted to find out if others have had any problems feeding such things over the long term.

Not sure what the first ingredient is, is that a kibble?

But to me it looks like a lot of filler (things that make them feel full) which makes it look like a HUGE meal. I personally don't find that it's enough vegi's in ration to the other stuff, and I don't know what you do for it, but you're missing calcium :) (Unless it's part of that first ingredient)

:2cents: